The haze of persists, to remind
with a swell of colour,
the decisions of a secret life.

Observe, the crumpled ashes
that had once shimmered
as a beloved,
before shedding a soul's
worth of weight to die.

For all such moments,
one must eventually smile.

The meaningless of being
is the shape and silhouette
of a tawdy trinket,
ransacked and discarded
like a consolation prize.

An after-image
for someone else's afterlife.